Jerseys, Pucks Used In First Period of 2005 Coors Light ECHL All-Star Game Will Be Auctioned To Benefit Players’ Health and Welfare Fund

PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL in association with The MeiGray Group announced on Tuesday that the Game-Worn Jersey Auction at the 2005 Coors Light ECHL All-Star Game will benefit the Professional Hockey Players’ Association Health and Welfare Fund which provides health insurance for ECHL players and their families.

The jerseys worn by the 21 members of the American Conference and the 21 members of the National Conference during the first period of play on January 26 will be auctioned live during the game simultaneously at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pa. and online at echl.com, meigray.com and Truition Marketplace Solutions. Game-used and goal-scoring pucks will be collected from the game and put up for bid.

The auction begins at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 26 and closes at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 2.

Since beginning the ECHL All-Star Game game-worn jersey auction in 2002, the ECHL and The MeiGray Group have raised almost $40,000 for the Twin Towers Fund (2002), the Karmanos Cancer Institute (2003) and the Make-A-Wish Foundation (2004).

“ECHL fans deserve our heartfelt thanks for continuing to show their tremendous support,” said Barry Meisel, President and Chief Operating Officer of the MeiGray Group. “We’re delighted that as the Game-Worn Jersey world has grown, so has the fans’ passion for the world’s greatest sport and the world’s greatest hobby.”

“The consistent success of the annual jersey auction clearly indicates the compassion and generosity of ECHL fans,” said Glen Thornborough, ECHL Vice President of Marketing/Sales. “Utilizing the expertise of the MeiGray Group, the ECHL and its member teams continue to offer fans some of the most creative jerseys in hockey while guaranteeing game-worn authenticity.”

Each player in the 2005 Coors Light ECHL All-Star Game will wear a different jersey in each of the game’s three periods. The jerseys worn in the second period will be available to the general sports collecting public later this winter through The MeiGray Group, a Branchburg, N.J., company that also partners with the National Hockey League in the NHL-MGG Game-Worn Jersey Authentication Program. The players will keep the jerseys worn during the third period.

The official game-worn jersey source of the ECHL, The MeiGray Group is also marketing the complete collection of home and road jerseys from all 28 teams in the ECHL, worn during the first half of 2004-05. Fans and collectors can order the jerseys of their favorite teams at meigray.com or telephone The MeiGray Group toll-free at (888) 463-4472 for more information.

The leading distributor of game-worn hockey jerseys and “Official Game-Worn Jersey Source of the ECHL,” The MeiGray Group sold over 800 game-worn ECHL jerseys in 2003-04 and has sold more than 1,700 since it began selling game-worn ECHL jerseys in 2002-03.

Each ECHL team will wear one set of home and road jerseys for the first half of the season and another set for the second half. The MeiGray Group, which offers game-worn jerseys from all ECHL teams to hockey fans and sports collectors worldwide, owns the exclusive rights to the jerseys worn during the first half of the season while the teams own the exclusive rights to jerseys worn for the second half as well as all specialty jerseys and jerseys worn during the 2005 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

The MeiGray Group, which has sold more than 19,000 game-worn jerseys since its inception in 1997, is partners with the National Hockey League in the NHL-MGG Game-Worn Jersey Authentication Program and also has working agreements with the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles, Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers and the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks.